Friends. Wherever you are, I hope there is sunshine streaming through the window and a hot steaming beverage nearby. I hope your feet are wrapped in cozy, thick-knit socks and your ears are toasty with warmth. But I mostly hope that winter is on its way out the door for you, no matter what that asinine groundhog says. Please, dear God, let this winter come to an end. Please. PLEASE!!!

I don't mean to sound desperately over the weather. But I am. I've done the New England winters for two previous years, but this New York winter has thrown me for a loop. I'm not sure why. Is it the howling winds? Is it the teasingly warm weekends (you know, in the 40's), followed by painful "highs in the LOW teens" weeks? This winter has got to end. I hear you laughing. Yes, I know that I have a minimum of 8-10 weeks left of this mess. This MESS. Yellow snow. Icy sidewalks. Windburn smacking me in the face as I attempt to walk (and not slip on ice AGAIN) down the stairs into the subway. The dark cover of night arriving at 4pm. It's so dark, you guys.

Ways I've been managing in the cold?

- Whining.

- Journaling my whines. Sometime they're really clever.

- Netflix.

- Going to museums. (Okay, we've only gone to one so far... but we aspire to visit more.)

- Cooking and baking. Ugh my waistline.

- Thinking about exercising. I'll let you know when I am ACTUALLY in a state to exercise again.

- Watching HGTV. I have a major crush on the Property Brothers. Stevie's response to that? "Yeah, I always knew it took two men to replace me."

- Incessantly calling my mom and sisters. I think they might be screening my calls at this point.

- Begging people to come visit me.

- Dreaming of warm vacations.

In the meantime, the snow around my neighborhood and the park is rather pretty. Let's just focus on that and pretend that Spring is just around the corner, k?

Nice to meet you!

I'm Kristen - wife, mama and writer in this little cove of the interweb.Loves: bird watching, non-toxic beauty, watching Gilmore Girls re-runs, traveling with my family & yummy slash healthy recipes :) If I could pour you a cup of coffee and invite you to stay a while, I really really would. Thanks for stopping in, friend! MORE HERE.